In 1955, the author, Harold Osborne wrote about the cold, windswept and arid Andean Plateau (Altiplano):

"It has the foresaken aspect of a landscape on some vaster and more ancient planet where life has long been obsolete... It is a harsh, inhuman land, inhabited by a sour, unsmiling, toiling race. There are no trees. Except during the brief season of the rains, there is no green... There is a grandeur which humbles and turns one to admiration of those who for centuries have made it their home."